Author Archives: KDSMurray

And if I ever lose my north and south…

By KDSMurray | February 26, 2010

Moonshadow is considered one of Cat Stevens greatest songs and his personal favourite of that period. It imagines the loss of body parts as a form of liberation.
One curious verse talks about the loss of teeth:
And if I ever lose my mouth All my teeth, north and south [...]

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John Stanley Martin – Australia as an Iceland of the south

By KDSMurray | January 21, 2010

One way of reading an antipodean country like Australia is through the lens of its symmetrical opposites. For many, Australia has been compared to Nordic countries. One of Australia’s leading Nordicists, John Stanley Martin, unfortunately passed away this week. Here he talking about the commonality between Australia and Iceland.
John Stanley Martin, descendent of [...]

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Why ‘Up in the Air’ should be grounded

By KDSMurray | January 16, 2010

New critique or old myth?
You could be forgiven for thinking that the recently released Up in the Air heralds a new wave of American films that reflect the real social realities of America exposed by the Global Financial Crisis.
‘ target=_blank>Rolling Stone claims that ‘Up in the Air is a defining movie for these [...]

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Vertiginous Africa

By KDSMurray | December 20, 2009

Tourist images of the African continent are dominated by scenes of safari adventures. While these entail their own colonial associations – Africa as nature rather than culture – there is a more phenomenological dimension to the African experience for westerners. This suggests a continent that we look down to.
Virgin Airlines have just released their first [...]

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Spain as South – the Black Legend has a warm heart

By KDSMurray | September 22, 2009

‘Africa begins at the Pyrenees.’ Voltaire
"Whatever has black sounds has duende." Garcia Lorca
Spain seems an exception to civilised Europe. While the Enlightenment promoted the pursuit of reason based on natural order, Spain remained captive to a theatre of violence as it persecuted heretics and bulls. Is this a true [...]

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